Disney admits: Skyliner is an April Fools joke

WALT DISNEY WORLD — Put your dreams of riding a gondola away, Disney fans. It turns out the new Disney “Skyliner” at the Walt Disney World Resort is just an elaborate prank that got out of hand.

“It started with some posts we read on Disney fan sites,” spokesperson Jun Disney (no relation) tells Uncle Walt’s Insider. “Some of the more obsessive fans noticed that Walt Disney World had filed permit requests for buildings that the fans thought looked like gondola stations. The imagineers read that and thought, hey, it would be funny to act like that was true.

“So we faked up more plans, and ‘artist’s renderings,’ and had an announcement made, and people totally bought into it. It was hilarious.”

Unfortunately, as it turns out, not everyone in the company was aware that it was a prank.

“Before we knew it, all of the sudden there were construction sites being fenced off on the property, and land was being cleared. To say that it was awkward would be an understatement.”

Why announce it now? “Well, if we let it go forward we’ll actually get a gondola system,” Disney (no relation) explains. “We couldn’t justify throwing any more real money at what we thought would be an obvious joke. Really? A gondola system? In Florida, you expect guests to ride in a car hanging from a wire, when the weather ranges from blistering heat to hurricanes, often in one afternoon? We didn’t think anyone would actually believe it!”